Low-value Care

Variability and Costs of Low-Value Preoperative Testing for Cataract Surgery Within the Veterans Health Administration

Abstract: This cohort study of Veterans Health Administration records examines the prevalence of low-value preoperative tests for eye cataract operations and associations with patient demographic characteristics, procedure type, and facility size.

Publication: JAMA Open

Date Published: May 6, 2021

Author(s): Seshadri C. Mudumbai, MD, MS; Suzann Pershing, MD, MS; Tom Bowe; Robin N. Kamal, MD, MBA; Erika D. Sears, MD, MS; Mary T. Hawn, MD, MPH; Dan Eisenberg, MD; Andrea K. Finlay, PhD; Hildi Hagedorn, PhD and Alex H. S. Harris, PhD, MS

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To eliminate medication overload, serious cultural, educational, and policy changes are needed. This action plan offers recommendations for policymakers, health care institutions, clinicians, and patients across five key categories to reduce harm from multiple medication use. Suggested Citation: Eliminating medication overload: A national action plan. Working Group on Medication Overload. Brookline, MA: The Lown Institute, 2020. DOI: https://doi.org/10.46241/LI.YLBW4885

Pharmaceutical marketing is a significant factor in the growing public health crisis of medication overload, which puts millions of older adults at risk of preventable harm and premature death. This issue brief provides recommendations to reduce pharmaceutical industry influence by limiting pharma sales rep visits to clinicians and direct-to-consumer advertising.

This issue brief provides recommendations for clinical practice guidelines and electronic health records that would give clinicians the information they need to appropriately prescribe and deprescribe.